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For those who like reading Christian/inspirational fiction and non-fiction or know who someone does: Last month Family Christian Bookstore announced that they are closing all their retail stores nationwide. The website is no longer accepting online orders.

The Christian bookstore retail chain previously filed for bankruptcy a few years ago--full article from "Christianity Today" online.

I've been to the Family Christian store in my town a few times for novels that I couldn't find on shelf at the local Barnes & Noble.

It's hard to compete against Amazon. I'm afraid the bricks-and-mortar stores are in the same position as the Yankee Trader with his horse-drawn wagon once the Sears and Roebuck catalog got going.

Were I a farmer's wife in 1840, I might miss the friendly old guy and his wagon, but on the other hand, if I needed a washtub I could order just the size I wanted, and Yankee hardly ever had the big ones.

So although I like the ambiance of bookshops and have many fond memories, I buy from Amazon and read on kindle. I can immediately scratch whatever reading itch crops up.

MLE (Emily Cotton) wrote:It's hard to compete against Amazon. I'm afraid the bricks-and-mortar stores are in the same position as the Yankee Trader with his horse-drawn wagon once the Sears and Roebuck catalog got going.

Were I a farmer's wife in 1840, I might miss the friendly old guy and his wagon, but on the other hand, if I needed a washtub I could order just the size I wanted, and Yankee hardly ever had the big ones.So although I like the ambiance of bookshops and have many fond memories, I buy from Amazon and read on kindle. I can immediately scratch whatever reading itch crops up.

Change happens as the world progresses. Manufacturers and business owners need to keep up, or give up when their business model is obsolete. I know that seems harsh, but look at things like VCRs and DVD players (or tape!). I know that's harsh and I do miss the brick and mortar book stores, but if there's no longer a market for it...

Off Topic

As much as I would prefer to support the local pet stores, when it comes to Amazon's price for a case of 24 cans (delivered to my door with no drive/chasing around the store/waiting in line for the next cashier) is considerably lower. With Prime it comes in two days, no muss no fuss.

Madeleine wrote:Not sure if it's quite the same here re bookstores, admittedly some do close but I have noticed that the two big high street booksellers have both stopped selling ebooks.

How CAN a bricks-and-mortar store sell an ebook? don't you have to be online for delivery? A coupon for it, maybe, or a thumb-drive or cd, but since internet is everywhere, why not buy your ebook from wherever?

I wondered that as well, they may not have sold the ebooks but they did sell readers - Waterstone's sold kindles and the other big high street seller, W H SMith, sold Kobo, but both have stopped selling the readers now.

Bricks and Mortar Waterstones sold Kindle e-readers but ePub e-books. It made sense. You can order a hardcopy book and get it delivered by post (for which you pay) or pick it up from the shop most convenient to you. You used also to be able to order e-books for download with Adobe Digital Editions from the same website. I used to order e-books from them because I know they pay tax on their sales and also to support diversity. But they stopped and passed all their e-book sales to KOBO who, like Amazon, operate from Luxembourg and so also able to flout UK tax. Without the tax advantage it is obviously difficult for a bookstore, like Waterstones, to compete on price. In quite a few cases you can buy ebooks direct from publishers such as Penguin which I try to do when I can. Mind you, I have issues with Adobe Digital Editions and it is about time someone offered a more reliable system. I am really glad that all the libraries I download e-books from refuse to provide a Kindle option and I use a KOBO for those and I actually prefer my KOBO to my Kindle. If necessary I can read both Kindle books and ePub books on the same Android tablet. I just prefer reading on an e-reader.

Basically Waterstones in the UK have started to set up small bookshops that look and feel like independents. They do put a handwritten sign in the window saying who really owns it, but it seems a bit sneaky! It's not like they are franchises as far as I'm aware, although they will look nicer on a high street.